Getting ready for the river: two levee improvement projects done

In the middle of the presentation Tuesday, Keith Swanson (flood management division chief at the state Department of Water Resources) reminded the attendees why these improvements were a big deal. He recalled a high-river day when "boils" were spotted inside a nearby levee.Colonel William Leady of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who said these levee projects are were the result of “state and local and federal government working together.” He also said that the 130-feet deep slurry wall built inside one West Sacramento levee might be the deepest such wall in California. (News-Ledger photo)”]

“On a beautiful summer day like this, it is difficult to remember that back in 1997, the city of West Sacramento was almost the victim of a major disaster,” said Swanson. “(Workers) noticed the land side of the leveee, toward the ditch, had begun to slough off. It got worse.”

They made interim fixes, but the danger was real, said Swanson.

And even if and when the city reaches its 200-year risk goal, that’s not the same as “no risk,” Mayor Cabaldon commented.

“We can’t get the risk down to zero,” he said.

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